Aboriginal landowners in court – their case against Muckaty nuclear waste dump will continue
news today from the federal court in Melbourne re the Muckaty legal case – Dave Sweeney, 28 March 12
The judge did not accept moves by the Commonwealth and Northern Land Council (NLC) to have the Traditional Owners case struck out.
A wide range of previously secret documentation – including the nomination deed and key anthropological advice and evidence – will now become public and a trial date will be set sometime in the future.
A move by the NLC/Commonwealth to have proceedings re-located to Darwin was also rejected and proceedings will continue in Melbourne:
Commercial Eco Whisper wind turbine installed near Tullamarine, melbourne
The Eco Whisper Turbine is set to revolutionise delivery of renewable electricity supply to midsize commercial, manufacturing or industrial facilities, particularly in rural or remote locations that rely on diesel replacement.
Queensland renewable energy company Eco Whisper installs first commercial turbine, NewsMaker, , March 28, 2012 – The first commercial application of the Eco Whisper turbine, the world’s quietest 20kW wind turbine, is being installed and will be connected to the grid near Tullamarine in Melbourne. Produced and developed by Queensland-based Renewable Energy Solutions Australia (RESA), the 30 blade Eco Whisper turbine delivers virtually silent operation and produces up to 30 percent more power than conventional 3-bladed turbine designs.
Ideal for mid-sized facilities and perfect to replace diesel generation facilities, the Eco Whisper collects wind more efficiently and can operate in both high and low wind conditions. One turbine can produce enough power for around three average homes. Continue reading
Ballarat, Victoria launches drive for big solar energy
National campaign aims to shine spotlight on big solar. ABC Ballarat, By Margaret Burin, 26 March, 2012 Renewable energy advocates have begun a national campaign to promote large-scale solar power generation. About 50 groups around Australia are behind a campaign to push building large solar energy plants.
Supporters from Ballarat are the latest to launch the movement. Andrew Bray from the 100% Renewables group says large-scale solar energy is an underutilised resource in Australia. “We’re the sunniest country on Earth pretty much and we have no operating large-scale solar stations,” he says.
Mr Bray says large-scale solar power projects – which includes building solar towers and constructing panels in paddocks – are economically viable and can counter coal-fired power stations. “To give you some proportion, the normal coal-fired station is 750 to 1000 megawatts, and there’s no reason why solar power stations can’t scale up to that size.
“There’s a lot of know-how, lots and lots of know-how, in fact some of the major solar advances have come out of Australian universities and CSIRO, but industry needs to start putting out modest sized ones to learn how to do it and teach the financiers that the risks are quite modest.”
The Gillard Government has committed $10billion towards a new commercial fund, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Mr Bray says if parliament passes the legislation, it will help drive funding for big solar projects….
http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/03/26/3464085.htm
Federal Court hearing on Muckaty station legal challenge
“It is alleged that the Northern Land Council engaged in misconduct and breach of fiduciary duty because of the way they nominated the Muckaty site.”
26 March 12, Lawyers representing Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory will appear in the Federal Court in Melbourne tomorrow (Tuesday 27th March) to continue their legal challenge to the proposed nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station. Continue reading
Vital importance of renewable energy to rural Victoria’s future
Renewable energy ‘vital’ to region, The Warrnambool Standard, 21 Mar, 2012 MP Lily A’mbrosio yesterday continued the Opposition’s attack on state government wind farm polices when she visited Warrnambool to gauge the importance of renewable energy projects for the region. She also drove through Hawkesdale for a view of the Macarthur wind farm towers’ construction.
Ms A’mbrosio, the Opposition’s spokeswoman on energy, said government policy could strangle potential jobs growth and force companies to build their projects interstate. “You’ll see a faltering of jobs particularly in regional Victoria,”
she told The Standard. “Energy and Resources Minister O’Brien has been deathly silent in the debate. “I call on him to visit the Great South Coast to see for himself how important for the local economy renewable industry is. “He needs to account for the government’s failure to back renewable energy.”
Ms A’mbrosio said she was “enthralled” by her briefing from city council chief executive Bruce Anson and mayor Cr Jacinta Ermacora about the economic and jobs potential for the region from the renewable energy industry.
Ms A’mbrosio said she would also visit other shires in the next couple of months including Moyne, which has the region’s largest collection of wind farm projects….. http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/renewable-energy-vital-to-region/2495044.aspx
Victoria’s Liberal government pushing ahead with brown coal
Victoria announces plans to cash in on brown coal reserves 
ABC Radio National P.M. March 20, 2012 MARK COLVIN: A carbon tax was supposed to spell the death of brown coal but the Victorian Government has announced plans to export more of the energy source.
It’s announced plans to cash in on the billions of tonnes of brown coal in the La Trobe Valley. The Energy Minister, Michael O’Brien, says a number of companies overseas are developing low emissions technology for brown coal power
generation.
But one environmental mining engineer says it’s a fanciful suggestion and there’s no evidence of clean, brown coal anywhere in the world…. http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3459690.htm
Huge commercial rooftop photovoltaic solar system for Port Melbourne
Australia’s Largest Rooftop Commercial Solar Power Project Announced, by Energy Matters, 19 Mar 12, NEXTDC Limited (ASX:NXT) (“the Company” or “NEXTDC”) has made another unprecedented move for the Australian data centre industry by committing to build what will be Australia’s largest privately-owned rooftop photovoltaic solar system at its Port Melbourne data centre called “M1”.
NEXTDC will spend approximately $1.2 million to install up to 400kW of solar panels to generate around 550 MWh (megawatt hours) of electricity per annum. A system of this size will offset over 670 tonnes of CO2 per annum. This equates to taking around 200 cars off the road, or powering NABERS 4 star office space for over 890 people….
NEXTDC has already incorporated energy efficient measures into its new-build data centres such as trigeneration plant and outside free air-cooling. After successful deployment of the solar panels at M1, additional investments will be made at their other data centres around Australia.
“We are proud to be the first data centre operator in Australia to invest in solar energy,” Mr Slattery said. “In fact, we are also committing to install up to 1MW of solar energy within the next 12 months at our upcoming data centre facilities”….
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3109
The Eco Whisper – small, silent wind turbine in operation in Geelong
New polish on the factory floor, The Age, Jo Chandler, March 16, 2012 Geelong manufacturer Austeng ticks many of the boxes nominated by industry gurus as crucial to survival in the globalised world. Is this modest firm the template for the future?……..
The latest proud product of their collective skills sits outside in the yard. It’s a prototype 21-metre high wind turbine, its blades whizzing silently in the breeze, generating 20 kilowatts of energy. It’s emblematic of the kind of future George is determined to be part of. He has put his money where his mouth is, buying back the Eco Whisper prototype that he had built for a renewable power company, and he estimates it will generate about a third of the energy required for his factory. Continue reading
Premier Baillieu out of step with voters, on climate chnage
Voters call for action on climate change, The Age, Adam Morton March 9, 2012 AS THE Baillieu government prepares to reveal the future of Victoria’s climate change laws, a poll has found two-thirds of Coalition voters think the state has a responsibility to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The Essential Media poll of 1009 Victorians, commissioned by conservation group Environment Victoria, found 76 per cent believed the state government should cut emissions and not leave it to the federal government to take action through a carbon tax or other steps.
Among Coalition voters, 66 per cent said the state had a responsibility to cut emissions.
Victorians want the state government to act despite belief in climate
change being split between those who think that it is caused by human
activity (47 per cent) and those who think it is either due to natural
variation or not happening at all (44 per cent).
The poll comes as the state government is due to this month release a
review of the Climate Change Act introduced by the previous Labor government, which includes a target of cutting Victoria’s emissions by 20 per cent this decade.
The Baillieu government has wound back some clean energy programs and fuelled expectations the target could be reduced or scrapped.
Other findings from the poll conducted in December and January were:
■ Just 22 per cent of voters consider wind farm laws that give households right of veto over turbines within two kilometres of their house fair. Fifty per cent said the laws were not fair. ■ A majority said they wanted fewer coal-fired power plants (63 per cent) and more renewable energy (78 per cent) and energy efficiency (82 per cent). : http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/voters-call-for-action-on-climate-change-20120308-1un7y.html#ixzz1ofcfEu4I
Call to National Party M.P. to back Clean Energy Finance Corporation
Stawell Climate Action Group call to build big solar Stawell Times, 09 Mar, 2012 STAWELL – Stawell Climate Action Group, got to work this week building a huge sign spelling out the words ‘big solar’, to show their support for the development of large scale solar power in Australia….They gathered at Central Park, Stawell with overalls, hardhats and tools to
build the big solar sign… .
They are calling on John Forrest to get behind a new $10 billion fund for renewable energy. Continue reading
A history of dishonesty – Waubra Foundation, Landscape Guardians, and the Baillieu government.
The question we, the voters, need to ask is: ‘how did such a sorry lot with such a transparent and dishonest agenda succeed in bringing the wind industry to its knees thus depriving the public of a chance to reduce our carbon emissions?’
The answer is that no government could have been so easily duped unless it was complicit.
It is clear that the scuttling of the wind industry in Victoria was a deliberate political ploy to appease the coal industry, with the Guardians’ scare campaign simply serving as window dressing to dupe the public into thinking it was all in our interest.
This is the third part of Independent Australia environment editor Sandi Keane’s trilogy on the role of deception in the public debate on global warming. The first part, Deception is our Product, looked at the role of clever PR practitioners hired by the mining oligarchs to trick the unsuspecting into sacrificing their interests for those of their clients. The second part was the handy guide: The Practical Guide to Trickery & Fakery in the Digital Age. This thirdinstalment is the actual case study of Sandi’s investigation of the Landscape Guardians and the Waubra Foundation.
CASE STUDY: The Landscape Guardians and the Waubra Foundation, Independent Australia, 6 March 12, It began early last year, when a mate who likes to argue the toss with me on enviro-issues tipped me off about the anti-wind group, the Landscape Guardians.
The first hint that these people were not the self-appointed protectors of the landscape they claimed to be was the name. No dinky di greenie group would knowingly jump into bed with the notorious UK Country Guardians, with its links to both climate skeptics and the nuclear industry. The pressure group was set up by Sir Bernard Ingham, who was a former press secretary to Margaret Thatcher, consultant to the nuclear industry and an acknowledged “black belt” in the art of spin. Continue reading
Ted Baillieu is costing Victoria’s economy, with wind energy losses
Another wind farm falls to Vic laws, Yes! to Renewables February 27, 2012 by Ben Courtice, Synergy Wind’s wind farm that was proposed for Devon North, near Yarram in South Gippsland, has had an extension of its planning approval rejected by the Wellington Shire Council. This is the first wind farm to fall due to the requirement to renew or extend planning approvals under the new laws, and unfortunately there may be more to come quite soon.
We will track these setbacks as they occur, and will soon update our assessment of just how much the 2011 anti-wind policy is costing Victoria in jobs and investment dollars….. http://yes2renewables.org/2012/02/27/another-wind-farm-falls-to-vic-laws/
Poo Power: why not? – it’s cleaner than nuclear
Poo Power: from poultry waste to renewable energy,PhysOrg.com, February 7th, 2012 Using curbside, commercial and biowaste from its poultry industry, the City of Greater Bendigo is building a business case that could see the introduction of Australia’s first multiple stream waste to energy facility.
The economic and environmental initiative is being undertaken with the help of Masters students from the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Business & Economics.
The students will conduct a feasibility analysis on the project over the next fortnight….. The student project is part of the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Business & Economics Volunteer Business Practicum, a program that allows students to provide a genuine contribution to a business or community while gaining valuable work experience….. The students will work with the City of Greater Bendigo Council until mid-February, when they will present their findings to the council and their peers.
More information:
See http://www.gsbe.un … acticum.html for more information.
Provided by University of Melbourne http://www.physorg.com/wire-news/90052149/poo-power-from-poultry-waste-to-renewable-energy.html
Victoria’s Baillieu Liberal government was able to limit, but not stop, this last new wind farm
Wind farm to be built near Colac, The Age, Adam Morton, January 25, 2012 A $400 million wind farm will be built in Victoria’s Western District six years after receiving planning approval from the state government. Spanish company Acciona Energy said the 63-turbine plant at Mount Gellibrand, 25 kilometres east of Colac, would generate enough power
to run about 88,000 homes. Construction of the 189-megawatt clean energy plant, scaled down from an initial proposal of 116 turbines, will start in March.
The wind farm needed final government approval before construction could begin, but was not subject to new planning laws announced by the Baillieu government in August giving households a right of veto over turbines within two kilometres of their home. The revised laws apply to new applications only…..
Mr Wickham said Acciona was yet to decide whether it would go ahead with three other wind farm proposals — at Newfield, Berrimal and Mortlake South — granted planning permits under the previous Labor government. He said the changes to planning laws, which include a ban on wind farms at tourist sites such as the Macedon Ranges and the Great Ocean
Road, meant it was “probably more beneficial for us to be looking in other states” for future projects…
Health and welfare groups have rejected claims turbines cause illness. The Climate and Health Alliance, a coalition of 20 groups including the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Australian Psychological Society, this week released a statement that there was no credible evidence in peer-reviewed scientific journals linking turbines to illness.
Documents obtained by environment group Friends of the Earth show NSW health officials dismissed claims by the Waubra Foundation and told the state’s ministers there was no evidence of “wind turbine syndrome”. The National Health and Medical Research Council is due to release a full review of scientific literature on wind farms and health bymid-year. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wind-farm-to-be-built-near-colac-20120124-1qfwx.html#ixzz1kVcrktpg
Anti business policies of Liberal governments in Victoria and New South Wales – war on renewable energy
Now, however, backed by the fossil fuel industry, the campaign against solar and wind power in Australia has exposed many of the very anti-business policies of the Coalition. With dropping costs and increasing reliability for renewable energy, conservatives have had to turn to ‘community concerns’ to wage their attacks. These concerns are based around a very tiny, loud minority, and apparently don’t exist for the coal or coal seam gas industry. They also go against strong evidence that show that renewable energy is extremely popular.
There is no doubt that the renewable energy industry will continue to grow throughout the world. Wind and solar are booming and will soon be cheaper than current fossil fuels.
The war against renewable energy The Drum, Simon Copland, 19 Jan 12, It’s an odd scenario when the Coalition becomes the main opponents to a new, profitable business. Long seen as the small government, pro-business party, the Coalition has engrained itself in the business community and business interests.
Yet, with the election of the Victorian and New South Wales Liberal Governments, it has become increasingly apparent that the Liberal’s pro-business pedigree is only extended to certain business operations – normally the dirtiest ones to boost.
It all started with new regulations in Victoria in 2011. Passed through both houses of the Victorian Parliament in 2010, these rules set strict new regulations on the development of wind farms in the state. Based on the idea of ‘community concerns’ about wind development, the regulations state that any person who lives within 2km of a proposed wind turbine will now have the ability to veto the project, with very little discourse for wind operators. The bill has the potential to cost Victoria $3 billion in wind investment and means that it would now be easier to get approval for a coal power plant in Victoria than a wind farm.
Despite outcry from the Victorian environmental and business community, on the eve of Christmas the New South Wales Coalition Government followed its Victorian counterparts inadopting similar regulations. The New South Wales Government boasted that these were the “toughest wind farm guidelines in Australia and possibly the world”. As Barry O’Farrell said, if he had his way, there would be no more wind farms ever approved in New South Wales. Continue reading
1 This month
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
– go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
Antinuclear 